During the closing months of 2022, as we fleshed-out our vision for a new online learning community, focused on employee experience (EX), we wanted to understand more about the changing nature of EX roles and the skills and traits required to be a truly outstanding EX practitioner.
Armed with a set of questions and an appetite for discovery, we undertook a short and focused piece of qualitative research to lift the lid on this emerging discipline. We conducted a series of structured interviews with around 30 ‘EX pioneers’, senior-level trailblazers who are already shaping the experiences of employees in a wide range of organisations.
The purpose of this research was primarily to understand the characteristics, skills and traits required to be a truly outstanding EX practitioner – someone who designs and implements great employee experiences that unlock engagement and, in doing so, contribute directly to organisational success. We unearthed some rich insights which have enabled us to develop the ‘EX Archetypes’ to help practitioners better understand the nature of their role and what they need to succeed.
Introducing the EX Archetypes
The research insights illustrated that the type of work EX practitioners do fits broadly into four archetypes. Of course, the reality is that what we do might not fit neatly into one box or archetype – and certainly many practitioners will be expected to transition from one archetype to another, to both design and deliver great experiences.
We heard that some aspects of the work practitioners do involved more emphasis on ‘design’. That is working at the ‘thinking’ end of EX, designing strategies, plans and approaches. And the other end of this scale is all about delivery, which means bringing these strategies to life and making them happen.
We also heard that some practitioners are working on what we have called the ‘macro’ EX. This involves end-to-end experiences, thinking about whole company approaches and the impact on organisational culture. And at the other end of the scale are the ‘micro’ experiences – what we sometimes refer to as ‘everyday EX’, which are smaller elements or parts of the overall employee experience.
The four EX archetypes we have identified are:
- The EX Architect
- The EX Planner
- The EX Designer
- The EX Builder
We found that there are a core set of strengths and skills which are common to the four archetypes and there are then specific additional strengths and skills four each of the archetypes. If you want to find out which EX Archetype you are then join us at our webinar to hear more about the research and our findings…
We’re really excited about the potential of our EX Archetypes, to help practitioners further develop the right skills for the work they’re doing both today and in the future and, collectively, to raise the professional bar for EX. And it’s important to emphasise that this is very much a prototype, rather than a finished product. We offer this up as a starting point, and we sincerely hope that others will challenge us, build upon our thinking and contribute their own ideas so, collectively, we can raise the professional bar. We’d love to know what you think about our research findings and the EX Archetypes we’ve developed so sign up to join the webinar and be the first to download the report.
The thinking outlined here will form part of our new web-based learning community, The EX Space, which will launch in late Spring 2023 – if you haven’t already, please join us as we begin our journey to enable the EX era.
